Dupage Policy Journal

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie, Sen. Jason Barickman, and Rep. Mark Batinick recently discussed the Voter Empowerment Project.

The Voter Empowerment Project is a legislative package that consists of three constitutional amendments that will permit a recall of any elected official in the state excluding judges, allow Illinois citizens to substantially change the state constitution, and provide voters the ability to repeal any legislature through a referendum.

“For too long, the citizens of Illinois have been taken advantage of by the political machine in our state,” Durkin said. “High taxes and skyrocketing debt have left Illinoisans disillusioned with the state government."

Illinoisans tried to take back their government in the previous years through a referendum, instituting non-partisan maps by collecting over half a million signatures, for instance, but “the political insiders used the courts in Cook County to strike down those petitions,” the House Republican leader said.

Durkin also highlighted that people are leaving the state because of their “utter disdain” in the state.  A huge number of 80,000 Illinoisans left the state last year, “the most since World War II, and the second largest of any state in the country,” he said.

With these problems in mind, they are “proposing a package that will finally give the people of Illinois the chance to be in control of their government and give them their voice back,” Durkin added.